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Samurai start with a loyal mount. In PFS is it assumed that the mount comes with saddle and barding or do you need to pay for that out of your 150 starting gold? I include the barding as the mount gets light armor proficiency at start which would be pointless without the barding.
All characters come with armor and weapon proficiencies, but characters still need to pay for the items themselves.
Items for your mount needs to be paid for. On the bright side, you probably don't really need the barding until later.
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1) You'll want a Military saddle anyway.
2) Using the "Masterwork Tool" template of the CRB, you'll want to spend an extra 50gp on masterwork tack for a +2 to Ride or Handle Animal (or whatever other horsey skill you desire to apply the bonus to).
3) 100gp for studded-leather barding is a killer bargain.
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1) You'll want a Military saddle anyway.
2) Using the "Masterwork Tool" template of the CRB, you'll want to spend an extra 50gp on masterwork tack for a +2 to Ride or Handle Animal (or whatever other horsey skill you desire to apply the bonus to).
3) 100gp for studded-leather barding is a killer bargain.
I wouldn't consider Tack a tool that could use the Masterwork Tool template.
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I think the description for masterwork tool is a little vague and leaves a large amount of room for potential abuse.
I think it is less vague than you think.
A tool is something you craft with, build with, fix with, tinker with, or break with.
Riding Tack is gear or equipment necessary to ride a horse. It isn't a tool, because you aren't doing any of the above.
A rubber chicken is a prop. I would not consider a prop eligible to be considered a tool, as you aren't really doing any of the above.
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I think the description for masterwork tool is a little vague and leaves a large amount of room for potential abuse.I think it is less vague than you think.
A tool is something you craft with, build with, fix with, tinker with, or break with.
Riding Tack is gear or equipment necessary to ride a horse. It isn't a tool, because you aren't doing any of the above.
A rubber chicken is a prop. I would not consider a prop eligible to be considered a tool, as you aren't really doing any of the above.
Then you would be incorrect.
I would just tell you I am "fixing" my horse's ineptitude with my masterwork spurs.
Well, you can always play word games with just about anything. However, expect table variation on this one. Your GM of the moment would have final decision for the length of that session as to whether it really is a "tool" and purchasable as a masterwork tool.
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Well, you can always play word games with just about anything. However, expect table variation on this one. Your GM of the moment would have final decision for the length of that session as to whether it really is a "tool" and purchasable as a masterwork tool.
Except as a player I don't cite where all my bonuses come from when the GM asks for a skill check. You say "Make a Ride check" and I say "I got a 23". Then we move on. If a broad view of masterwork tools is held by the rest of a region you are not ever going to know it unless you ask where the bonus came from every time a skill check is made.
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Except as a player I don't cite where all my bonuses come from when the GM asks for a skill check. You say "Make a Ride check" and I say "I got a 23". Then we move on. If a broad view of masterwork tools is held by the rest of a region you are not ever going to know it unless you ask where the bonus came from every time a skill check is made.
Well, you can always play word games with just about anything. However, expect table variation on this one. Your GM of the moment would have final decision for the length of that session as to whether it really is a "tool" and purchasable as a masterwork tool.
Agreed. And as a GM, I am not in the habit of asking about such things. Unless something just doesn’t look right. I see them roll a 3 and they say, I got a 15, and they are a level 1 new character. Now I suppose it is possible to get a +12 at 1st level (Stat 20 with a +5, Half Elf Skill Focus +3, Rank, and +3 for Class Skill) but on average, that really isn’t possible. So then I question how they got a +12 at their level. They tell me, everything seems legit, we move on.
But if someone tells me that part of their +12 for a Ride Check is master work tack, I’m going to disallow it.
You can also notice these things when you audit characters. I peruse 1st time characters all the time.
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Except as a player I don't cite where all my bonuses come from when the GM asks for a skill check. You say "Make a Ride check" and I say "I got a 23". Then we move on. If a broad view of masterwork tools is held by the rest of a region you are not ever going to know it unless you ask where the bonus came from every time a skill check is made.
What you don't scrutinize every single Equipment the character has before the game?... You are a poor GM!!! ;)
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Using the ride check as an example is probably a bad idea. A military saddle already provides a +2 circumstance bonus and only costs 10gp more than a masterwork tool. How about a masterwork intimidate tool, like a mask you wear as your face slot? Would you allow that Andrew?
Why do I smell a trap here?
On average, I’d say a mask is clothing, and not considered a tool, and thus would not apply to the masterwork tool thing.
However, I do remember a particular scenario that has a mask that helps intimidate. If I remember correctly, the mask is purchasable on the chronicle sheet.
As such, if you had that mask from that chronicle and you’d purchased it, you could use the mask to help intimidate.
However, I would not generally consider a mask a tool.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Ah, what a fascinating topic! The nature of the "masterwork tool" item...
I'll just butt in and give my own interpretation - because what kind of a nerd would I be if I didn't? ;)
This well-made item is the perfect tool for the job. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on a related skill check (if any). Bonuses provided by multiple masterwork items do not stack.
I think it's important not to get too hung up on the word "tool". Keep in mind that (in the very same section of gear listings) there also exist these items:
Artisan's Tools: These special tools include the items needed to pursue any craft. Without them, you have to use improvised tools (–2 penalty on Craft checks), if you can do the job at all.
Artisan's Tools, Masterwork: These tools serve the same purpose as artisan's tools, but masterwork artisan's tools are the perfect tools for the job, so you get a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft checks made with them.
So artisan's tools (masterwork or otherwise) cover the full range of Craft skills. I think we're forced to conclude, then, that the "masterwork tool" item is something more generic.
Supporting this idea is the fact that the other items in that section list specific skills (craft, climb, perform, heal, etc) while the Masterwork Tool does not - it says "a related skill check".
To me, it's pretty clear that the "Masterwork Tool" item is just a catch-all for the less-commonly-modified skills. They listed individual +2 skill items that they wanted to have specific prices or descriptions, but rather than force a list of items corresponding to each skill in the game, they hit the highlights and made a generic item to cover the rest.
Will there still be fuzzy issues? Sure. One person might think a masterwork tool for stealth (some soft-soled shoes, perhaps?) is reasonable while another may not.
But there are a couple of pretty obvious guidelines to follow:
1. If there's already a tool for the skill at hand, you can't use "masterwork tool" instead. (For instance, no saving 30gp by having a "masterwork tool" for climbing instead of a climber's kit.)
2. The masterwork tool has to do something. It's not meant to replace (or stack with) the skill tools already specified, so it's obviously meant to be granting a bonus to other skills.
I guess the biggest question is this: what skills (if any) can not be helped by a masterwork item?
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I think the description for masterwork tool is a little vague and leaves a large amount of room for potential abuse.I think it is less vague than you think.
A tool is something you craft with, build with, fix with, tinker with, or break with.
Riding Tack is gear or equipment necessary to ride a horse. It isn't a tool, because you aren't doing any of the above.
A rubber chicken is a prop. I would not consider a prop eligible to be considered a tool, as you aren't really doing any of the above.
There's a difference between Masterwork Artisan's Tools and Masterwork Tools:
Artisan's Tools: These special tools include the items needed to pursue any craft. Without them, you have to use improvised tools (–2 penalty on Craft checks), if you can do the job at all.
Artisan's Tools, Masterwork: These tools serve the same purpose as artisan's tools, but masterwork artisan’s tools are the perfect tools for the job, so you get a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft checks made with them.
Tool, Masterwork: This well-made item is the perfect tool for the job. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on a related skill check (if any). Bonuses provided by multiple masterwork items do not stack.
-- So, the question begs: if Masterwork Artisan's Tools grant a +2 Competence bonus to Craft checks, then what skills do Masterwork Tools grant a +2 Competence bonus to if they are to be distinguished from Masterwork Artisan's Tools? The book doesn't say, and the text is generalized, leading one to conclude that it is any skill.
A "pre-generated" example would be the AGP's Masterwork Fortune Teller's Deck, which provides a +2 Competence bonus to Profession:Medium or Profession:Fortune Teller.
Some items are a little different: A Masterwook Backpack lets you treat your STR as 1 higher for weight limits; Masterwork Manacles need a 5 higher STR check to break out of; and Masterwork Thieves Tools and Masterwork Instruments cost 100gp instead of 50gp (one assumes because Disable Device and Perform[instrument] are used more often than normal by the classes likely to purchase those items.
Edit: Gah! Ninja'd by Jiggy!
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Thanks for breaking the issue down Jiggy. This is really a Rules Question and as such does not belong on the PFS forum, but since you asked:
I guess the biggest question is this: what skills (if any) can not be helped by a masterwork item?
My answer is there aren't any skills that a MW tool can't be applied to. My only requirement is a masterwork tool must be equipped somehow, and it must have a description appropriate to the circumstance bonus it gives. I don't want my players saying they have a widget that gives them a +2 circumstance bonus to Intimidate. I want my players to say their Calistrian cleric pulls out a wickedly barbed black & yellow whip that looks like a hornet's stinger.
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Thanks for breaking the issue down Jiggy. This is really a Rules Question and as such does not belong on the PFS forum, but since you asked:
I guess the biggest question is this: what skills (if any) can not be helped by a masterwork item?My answer is there aren't any skills that a MW tool can't be applied to. My only requirement is a masterwork tool must be equipped somehow, and it must have a description appropriate to the circumstance bonus it gives. I don't want my players saying they have a widget that gives them a +2 circumstance bonus to Intimidate. I want my players to say their Calistrian cleric pulls out a wickedly barbed black & yellow whip that looks like a hornet's stinger.
I think this is the crux of my opinion.
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Venture-Captain, Missouri—Cape Girardeau
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At one of my tables, I have had a player purchase a masterwork tool (hat) to help his Perception skill. His argument is that it keeps the sun out of his eyes to see better. As a GM I have allowed it... but not when in dim lighting or worse.
Yes, the "masterwork tool" has the potential for abuse. But it's just a +2 circumstance bonus. As a GM, you can help define the circumstances it doesn't work under as well. I don't find it all that game breaking.
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At one of my tables, I have had a player purchase a masterwork tool (hat) to help his Perception skill. His argument is that it keeps the sun out of his eyes to see better. As a GM I have allowed it... but not when in dim lighting or worse.
Yes, the "masterwork tool" has the potential for abuse. But it's just a +2 circumstance bonus. As a GM, you can help define the circumstances it doesn't work under as well. I don't find it all that game breaking.
And as a GM if you don't agree with it, you don't have to get into an argument at the table. Just quietly adjust the DC 2 higher than the check requires :)